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Lineage of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463
1944 - 1946:
- Activated 20 July 1944 at Cherry Point, North Carolina as Marine Bombing Squadron 463 and assigned to Marine Air Group-62, 9th Marine Air Wing.
[This should come as no surprise to any of us that "bombing" was in our squadron's blood - those of us who dropped PX Conex Boxes, fire trucks, bliffits -
fuel containers, water buffalo, and 6x6 trucks through the clouds enroute to Khe Sanh, and many other items can relate to this. There is even a Beeler's Bombers Patch to that effect!]
- Reassigned during Nov 1944 to Marine Air Group -34
- Reassigned during Feb 1945 to Marine Operational Training Group 81
- Deactivated 28 Feb 1945
- Reactivated 15 Jul 1945 at Santa Barbara, California, as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 463 and assigned to Marine Air Group -51. [We now progressed to torpedoes which is why we dropped so much stuff in the water!]
- Deactivated 20 Mar 1946
1958 - 1959:
- Reactivated 1 Sept 1958 at Santa Ana, California as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 463 and assigned to Marine Air Group - 36, 3rd Marine Air Wing
- Deactivated 30 June 1959
1966 - 1975:
- Reactivated 1 Mar 1966 at Santa Ana, CA as Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 and assigned to MWSG-37, 3rd Marine Air Wing
- Four plane HMH-463 Det deployed to Marble Mountain, Vietnam in Dec 1966 and assigned to Marine Air Group -16, 1st Marine Air Wing
- Remainder of squadron deployed during May 1967 to Marble Mountain, Vietnam assigned to Marine Air Group -16, 1st Marine Air Wing
- Relocated during May 1971 to Kaneohe Bay, HI and reassigned to Marine Air Group - 24, 1st Marine Brigade
- Participated in mine sweeping operations in the Haiphong/Hon Gai Area of North Vietnam Feb - Jul 1973
- Participated in Operations Eagle Pull and Frequent Wind during evacuation of Cambodia and Saigon Mar - May 1975
There are many operations and activities not listed during Vietnam (Dumbo Drop being one that made the movies!) and other periods. For example, HMH-463 supported operations such as: Dewey Canyon, Khe Sanh, Battle of Hue, and many, many others.
1975 - 2000:
- Participated in Operation Desert Shield in SW Asia Area of Saudi Arabia Aug 1990 - Jan 1991
- Participated in Operation Desert Storm in SW Asia Area of Saudi Arabia Jan 1991 - Mar 1991
- Participated in Operation Garden Isle Hurricane Iniki Relief on Island of Kauai in Sep 1992
- Participated in Joint Task Force - Full Accounting Cambodia Sep - Nov 1993
- Participated in Joint Task Force - Full Accounting Cambodia Apr - May 1995
- Currently stationed at Marine Corps Air Base, Hawaii
2000 - 2004:
- In the summer of 2000, Pegasus participated in Operation Natural Fire in Kenya and then returned to participate in RIMPAC 00 with HMH-366 (LtCol Marquardt)
- In the summer of 2001, Pegasus participated in Exercise Koa Thunder from Andersen AFB, Guam during which 1stMAW validated the 'long range raid' concept (2x 53s over water from Guam to Peileilu) that was used extensively in Afganistan. (LtCol Sempf)
- September 2001 was the catalyst to open up Japan to a new UDP cycle involving the 53D for the first time since all 53D's were relocated to Hawaii in 1996. (LtCol Sempf)
- In the summer of 2002, RIMPAC 02 on board USS Tarawa and then September 2002 UDP to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan during which we were part of Exercise Talon Vision with the Philippino Marines on Luzon, Korean Incremental Training Program (KITP) with ROK Marines on the DMZ and Philippine Interoperability Exercise (PIX) again with Philippino Marines on Luzon. (LtCol Kerchner)
- 2003 was pretty uneventful
- Now we're UDP back to Japan, we've been part of Cobra Gold '04 in Thailand and Fuji Incremental Training Program (FITP) with 2/23 and 2/25 (4th MARDIV out of New York). (LtCol Mathews)
- The previous updates courtesy of Capt. Gregory T. Baker
Our thanks to Pete Starn, who initiated the above investigation with the help of Col. Mike L. Olson and CWO3 Michael R. Haesaert.
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